[whatwg] Add <input> "Switch" Type

Domenic Denicola domenic at domenicdenicola.com
Tue Nov 19 06:25:14 PST 2013


From: whatwg-bounces at lists.whatwg.org [mailto:whatwg-

> I agree that the look and feel is different from checkbox but all the
> differences seem to be purely presentational. If you disagree, you need to
> elaborate a bit more.

Interestingly, Microsoft's Windows Store apps guidelines disagree. I find their reasoning somewhat compelling, although novel:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/hh465475.aspx

"Use a toggle switch for binary settings when changes become effective immediately after the user changes them."

"Use a checkbox when the user has to perform extra steps for changes to be effective."

These aren't exactly semantic differences, but I think they reveal different underlying semantics. Roughly, we have two controls which each have two states. But the meanings of those two states are completely different for switches vs. checkboxes; perhaps it could be boiled down to "on vs. off for this thing" and "yes vs. no for this option."


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